Jemima Hartshorn, founder of campaign group Mums for Lungs and mother to an asthmatic daughter, has no doubts, saying it is often the poorest who suffer by living next to busy roads. About 27% were opposed and the rest undecided. "But the further away from the city centre you go, the less you can improve air quality," Verbeek added.Ī YouGov poll last year showed 43% of Londoners supported the planned expansion, while another 8% supported a delayed one. Low emission zones make a lot of sense in city centres, where air pollution is higher and many public transport alternatives exist, said Thomas Verbeek, assistant professor in urban studies at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. Some experts say calculating the net benefits of a such an expansion can be complicated. "No politician in history has managed to do so." "You're not going to please a hundred percent of people all the time," he said. Other opponents have threatened disruptive protests.īut Khan, who was diagnosed with asthma and wrote a book this year on air pollution and climate change, says he is determined to face down his critics. Public cameras installed to enforce ULEZ have been vandalised. Less than a year away from a mayoral election, irate callers are lighting up the switchboards on the capital's radio phone-ins. Critics dispute the assessment's conclusion. He pointed to research showing the introduction of the ULEZ in 2019 caused nitrogen dioxide levels to fall by nearly half in central London, and that the assessment had overall backed an expansion. "The independent assessment confirms that ULEZ works and the expansion will lead to 5 million more Londoners breathing cleaner air," Khan told Reuters in an interview.
Khan, who is running for a third four-year term as London's mayor, acknowledges the need for support - pointing to a 110 million pound scrappage scheme to subsidise the cost of a newer vehicle by 2,000 pounds, and a list of exemptions, including for disabled people. In Rome this month the mayor delayed plans to toughen curbs on polluting vehicles after protests from citizens groups. Simplified as an economy-versus-environment debate, the London row mirrors challenges policymakers around the world are facing, as the rapidly closing window to halt a catastrophic rise in global temperatures rubs up against the cost of action. But like much of the data around the expansion, that has been heavily contested with some saying the true figure could be higher.Ĭristina has applied for a job in the rail sector. London's transport authority says only one in 10 cars in outer London are not ULEZ-compliant. He dismisses a scrappage scheme which could lower the cost of a replacement vehicle and says his only choice would be to pass the charge on to customers - something he believes would make him uncompetitive and cut his income in half.
I simply don't have the budget," he said, speaking to Reuters at a central London anti-ULEZ demonstration attended by hundreds. The expansion has triggered a fierce debate across the city, pitching the mayor and health campaigners, who point to the environmental success of the initial ULEZ restrictions, against those who say they can't tolerate another economic hit at a time of soaring living costs.Ĭarl Cristina, a 44-year-old tree surgeon living just outside the boundary, says it will wreck his livelihood.
His plan - which echoes hundreds of others in place in traffic-choked cities across Europe - will be tested in the courts on Tuesday when local councils challenge the expansion, arguing due process was not followed, especially in how consultations were carried out. If Mayor Sadiq Khan's plan goes ahead, London's Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) will become one of the world's largest to tackle air pollution, encompassing 5 million extra people in the capital's leafier and less-connected outer boroughs.
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LONDON: The ring of cameras trained on London's roads to charge drivers of the most polluting vehicles 12.50 pounds ($16) a day is due to expand next month - and not everyone is happy about it.
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